For the youngest solo swimmer in the weekend's 2015 Rottnest Channel Swim, it was an emotional reunion with her parents when she crossed the finish line.
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Olivia Williams is only 14 but one of the few signs of her youth came when her long blonde braids fell from her swimming cap after a long and emotional hug with her mum and dad.
Amid cheers and tears from her supportive family and friends Olivia (or Liv to her mates) achieved the testing crossing in a time of nine hours, 40 minutes.
"I'm not focused on my time at all, I achieved my goal by just finishing," she said.
"The conditions were terrible. The first 50 metres was OK, and then it was really windy and choppy for the rest of the way" .
Liv's mother, Natasha Williams has completed the swim as part of a team on numerous occasions. She knows how hard the event is and organised motivational signs written by Liv's friends and family.
Liv's support crew dropped the signs down by the side of the boat.
"Around the 12-kilometre mark I was freezing, I'd vomited and each time I took a breath it was like swallowing the entire ocean. The signs really helped me" Liv explained.
Both of Olivia's parents competed in their own teams over the weekend. It was was last year, while supporting her dad Richard in his fourth solo swim, that Liv decided she would take on the 19.7-kilometre race herself.
"As parents we fully supported Liv but told her she could only compete as a solo if she kept up her training", Natasha said.
With that, Olivia began a 20-week training program under WA long distance great Shelly Taylor-Smith. Her training regime at times comprised as many as six sessions per week, with additional training from former Olympian Bill Kirby.
She only missed one training session between October and Saturday's event.
Natasha said she and Richard were hugely proud of Liv.
"I can't remember what we said to each other at the finish line but I do remember Liv's radiating smile. Richard and I were overwhelmed with emotion," she said.
Liv celebrated her feat with a vegemite sandwich and an icecream.
By the next day she tired, sore, sunburnt and battling a cold but shrugged off the fatigue to head to school at PLC on Monday.
